Aperture:

aperture_diagram.jpg

The size of the opening in the lens also known as f/stop. ( a smaller aperture has a bigger f/stop number--lets in less light) The numbers represent ratios of the lens focal length to opening. The focal length is how long the lens is in millimeters. So f/2 is a wider open aperture than f/16 because the numbers are fractions.

Depth of field:

depth-of-field.jpg

Depth of field is like focus. It's the distance between the closest and farthest points in an image. Objects in an image that are closer are more clear and objects that are farther away are unclear and fuzzy.

Shutter Speed:

images.jpg
Shutter speed is the length of the exposure time or how long the shutter is open. Photographers change the shutter speed to catch objects that are moving.


Noise:

b4after.jpg
Noise is the random speckles of color, when there shouldn't be any. Noise can also be called grain because of the little grains of color.

Histogram:

histogram.jpg
Histograms are very useful tools that show the tone range in a graph, like shown above. The higher the graph goes, shows the amount of pixels that tone has.

Burst Mode:

burst_mode.jpg
Mode of operating a camera that allows multiple snapshots to be taken in a single click of the shutter.



White Balance:

white_balance.jpg

The process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo.

Self timer:

external image moz-screenshot.pngexternal image IMG_2627ed2.jpg

A device that delays the tripping of a camera shutter so that the photographer can be included in the photograph.

Pixels:

external image pixelated.jpg
The term "pixel" is actually short for "Picture Element." These small little dots are what make up the images on computer displays, whether they are flat-screen (LCD) or tube (CRT) monitors.

Auto Focus vs Manual Focus:

external image turn-off-auto-focus-06.jpgVS external image manual-focus-example.jpg

Auto-focus usually provide better photo quality than fixed-focus, since auto-focus lenses can be larger and allow more light to reach the camera sensor. The downside of auto-focus is usually a delay when taking a photo (shutter lag).
VS
Manual focus disables the camera's built-in automatic focus system so you can focus the lens by hand (*). Manual focus is useful for low light, macro or special effects photography.

ISO (international standardization organization):

external image iso-speed-100.jpg

ISO 9660 standard defines a file system used by CD-ROM media. CDs formatted using this standard can be used on any operating system that supports the ISO 9660 standard, including Windows, Mac, and Unix systems.

File Format:

.tiff:
external image 15PE.tiff.jpg
Industry-standard method for storing scanned and other digital black-and-white, grayscale, and full-color images. Developed mainly for desktop publishing, TIFF has found applications in several other areas such as computer aided design (CAD), medical imagery, fax transmission. TIFF saves detailed image information with each pixel, resulting in a relatively large data file.
.jpeg:
external image Olympus_Mons.jpeg
Standard for variable compression of black-and-white (gray scale) and full color still images. Named after the committee that wrote the original standard, its file name carries the extension 'jpg' or 'jpeg.' Unlike graphic interchange format (GIF) files, which can show only 256 colors, JPEG can show 16 million colors and is more suitable for photographs, naturalistic artwork, and similar material than for line drawings, lettering, and simple cartoons. It provides decent image quality at great reduction the final image may be as small as 2 percent of the original. Being a lossy format (see compression algorithm), it loses a degree of detail (which may not be obvious to the user) depending on the degree of compression. Although some versions of JPEG allow from 24-bit losless compression (usually 2:1) to a smaller bit-size lossy compression (up to 60:1), the recommended ratio is between 25:1 to 35:1 for everyday graphics work. JPEG is the most popular image compression format on the internet, and has a related standard (MPEG) for moving images.

.raw:
external image RAW_Tempel_K_ste.jpg